RIDES: Playing the 100ft per mile game
Within my Sunday riding group, whenever I volunteer to create a ride, there's an audible groan; "Pat's doing one of his hilly ones again."
Guilty as charged. It pains me slightly to squander my one long ride of the week on something that's flat... sometimes I get my way and we do some proper climbing, sometimes I have to relent and go with the majority. Not that I mind - not every ride can be an epic one - but I love it when I'm left to go wild.
Where I live in Rugby we have some lumpy terrain and it's possible to create some very big elevation gain in a relatively short distance. We're not talking into five figures, but with a bit of planning it's easy to get between several thousand feet of climbing on a 60-miler, which for many people is a big day.
Something I've tried to do recently is the 100ft per mile game. It's as simple as it sounds; for every mile (on average) you try to get 100ft of climbing. I've failed miserably the last two times because of a few reasons, but if you're riding solo as per lockdown rules, it's a great way to keep the mind sharp and not just settle for a short ride. There will be some of you who'll be shouting "but what about staying local during the lockdown?" - that's not up for debate at the moment, let's just look at this as a normal ride under normal conditions.
Both times I've done it recently I've not actually planned the route on Strava per se, I've just had a rough guide based upon a previous activity and then I've freestyled it while out on the road. I use a Garmin 510, which has appalling route guidance, so if I need to nkow where I am I just refer back to maps on my phone. Like orienteering, I just break things down into sections; "down the hill, second left to the next village then look for the main road to so-and-so", you get the idea?
The first ride I set off not actually with any plan in mind but after the ling road out of my village, I had 5 miles on the clock for about 30ft of climbing. This same stretch was my way home at the end so herein lies the first issue; don't waste miles on the flat. All it means is you're constantly playing catchup and on this occasions, for the majority of the ride (up to about 45 miles) I was dragging behind anything up to 600ft (which equates to 6 miles). It keep you thinking about any stretches where you can make up some elevation - hence the freestyle aspect of the game - but you're then posed with the second major issue; moving between climbs.
Much of Northamptonshire is rolling, so you can get 30ft here, 40ft there. It's great for always gaining ascent. The bits south of Daventry are even better, there are some really good bits. But when you get to anything that's close to flat, you're wasting miles getting to the next climb. More miles means more climbing required, not good when you're already behind.
Steep climbs are where it's at. Minimum mileage, maximum elevation. But this is where route planning on-the-fly is required. Are you on the right side of the hill? How far is it? What comes after it? Like I said, it's a great way to keep your mind sharp and brain ticking over, something I can say happens a lot when we're doing a normal group ride to a coffee stop. Not having a coffee stop on a solo ride (and because of lockdown) actually helps because it avoids any unnecessary deviation over flat ground.
Anyway, that first ride, I was done for at 50 miles; I was against the clock, I had 20 miles until home and there weren't any hills of significance. In the end I did 71 miles for 6,191ft climbed, or 87ft per mile. Respectable but off target.
The second ride was shorter - 42 miles in total - but again fell short despite me going out of my village the 'hilly route that gives me 150ft of climbing in the first two miles. It's hard trying to get elevation gain when you effectively live at the top of a mound! That particular ride led me out towards the Northamptonshire reservoirs - Naseby, Hollowell, Ravensthorpe to name a few - and these are all in flooded valleys so have obvious climbing potential. Plus, it's easy to create loops of hills out that way. I think if I'd had made it out to Pitsford then things may have worked out differently overall, as there's some serious climbing to be done out that way. As it stood, 3,481ft in 42 miles equated to 82ft per mile.
I'm sure that in places like Derbyshire it's a cinch to play this game; i've done a Sunday ride in the peaks with the group that yielded 114ft p/M (5,709ft in 49.7 miles) and 2018's ill-fated Armistice Day ride provided a final result of 113ft p/M (3,858ft in 34 miles).
I doubt I'll convince everyone to partake in what some see as a brutal way to spend a nice day. But for those with more a climbing 'bent', it's a fun way to try and get a fix, give yourself a challenge and ultimately, get closer to a monthly climbing goal.
Guilty as charged. It pains me slightly to squander my one long ride of the week on something that's flat... sometimes I get my way and we do some proper climbing, sometimes I have to relent and go with the majority. Not that I mind - not every ride can be an epic one - but I love it when I'm left to go wild.
Where I live in Rugby we have some lumpy terrain and it's possible to create some very big elevation gain in a relatively short distance. We're not talking into five figures, but with a bit of planning it's easy to get between several thousand feet of climbing on a 60-miler, which for many people is a big day.
 |
| Rolling terrain; perfect fodder for playing my new favourite cycling game. |
Something I've tried to do recently is the 100ft per mile game. It's as simple as it sounds; for every mile (on average) you try to get 100ft of climbing. I've failed miserably the last two times because of a few reasons, but if you're riding solo as per lockdown rules, it's a great way to keep the mind sharp and not just settle for a short ride. There will be some of you who'll be shouting "but what about staying local during the lockdown?" - that's not up for debate at the moment, let's just look at this as a normal ride under normal conditions.
Both times I've done it recently I've not actually planned the route on Strava per se, I've just had a rough guide based upon a previous activity and then I've freestyled it while out on the road. I use a Garmin 510, which has appalling route guidance, so if I need to nkow where I am I just refer back to maps on my phone. Like orienteering, I just break things down into sections; "down the hill, second left to the next village then look for the main road to so-and-so", you get the idea?
The first ride I set off not actually with any plan in mind but after the ling road out of my village, I had 5 miles on the clock for about 30ft of climbing. This same stretch was my way home at the end so herein lies the first issue; don't waste miles on the flat. All it means is you're constantly playing catchup and on this occasions, for the majority of the ride (up to about 45 miles) I was dragging behind anything up to 600ft (which equates to 6 miles). It keep you thinking about any stretches where you can make up some elevation - hence the freestyle aspect of the game - but you're then posed with the second major issue; moving between climbs.
Much of Northamptonshire is rolling, so you can get 30ft here, 40ft there. It's great for always gaining ascent. The bits south of Daventry are even better, there are some really good bits. But when you get to anything that's close to flat, you're wasting miles getting to the next climb. More miles means more climbing required, not good when you're already behind.
Steep climbs are where it's at. Minimum mileage, maximum elevation. But this is where route planning on-the-fly is required. Are you on the right side of the hill? How far is it? What comes after it? Like I said, it's a great way to keep your mind sharp and brain ticking over, something I can say happens a lot when we're doing a normal group ride to a coffee stop. Not having a coffee stop on a solo ride (and because of lockdown) actually helps because it avoids any unnecessary deviation over flat ground.
 |
| The north side of Poets Way, near Daventry doesn't look much but it's 140ft of climb in less than 0.5 mile - perfect! |
Anyway, that first ride, I was done for at 50 miles; I was against the clock, I had 20 miles until home and there weren't any hills of significance. In the end I did 71 miles for 6,191ft climbed, or 87ft per mile. Respectable but off target.
The second ride was shorter - 42 miles in total - but again fell short despite me going out of my village the 'hilly route that gives me 150ft of climbing in the first two miles. It's hard trying to get elevation gain when you effectively live at the top of a mound! That particular ride led me out towards the Northamptonshire reservoirs - Naseby, Hollowell, Ravensthorpe to name a few - and these are all in flooded valleys so have obvious climbing potential. Plus, it's easy to create loops of hills out that way. I think if I'd had made it out to Pitsford then things may have worked out differently overall, as there's some serious climbing to be done out that way. As it stood, 3,481ft in 42 miles equated to 82ft per mile.
 |
| What goes down must come back up - Northamptonshire has plenty of steep-sided valleys. This is the one out of Hollowell village. |
I'm sure that in places like Derbyshire it's a cinch to play this game; i've done a Sunday ride in the peaks with the group that yielded 114ft p/M (5,709ft in 49.7 miles) and 2018's ill-fated Armistice Day ride provided a final result of 113ft p/M (3,858ft in 34 miles).
I doubt I'll convince everyone to partake in what some see as a brutal way to spend a nice day. But for those with more a climbing 'bent', it's a fun way to try and get a fix, give yourself a challenge and ultimately, get closer to a monthly climbing goal.
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